Evaluation of the Built Environment at a Children???s Convalescent Hospital: Development of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory??? Parent and Staff Satisfaction Measures for Pediatric Health Care Facilities

Abstract

In preparation for the design, construction, and postoccupancy evaluation of a new Children's Convalescent Hospital, focus groups were conducted and measurement instruments were developed to quantify and characterize parent and staff satisfaction with the built environment of the existing pediatric health care facility, a 30-year-old, 59-bed, long-term, skilled nursing facility dedicated to the care of medically fragile children with complex chronic conditions. The measurement instruments were designed in close collaboration with parents, staff, and senior management involved with the existing and planned facility. The objectives of the study were to develop pediatric measurement instruments that measured the following: (1) parent and staff satisfaction with the built environment of the existing pediatric health care facility, (2) parent satisfaction with the health care services provided to their child, and (3) staff satisfaction with their coworker relationships. The newly developed Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory scales demonstrated internal consistency reliability (average alpha = 0.92 parent report, 0.93 staff report) and initial construct validity. As anticipated, parents and staff were not satisfied with the existing facility, providing detailed qualitative and quantitative data input to the design of the planned facility and a baseline for postoccupancy evaluation of the new facility. Consistent with the a priori hypotheses, higher parent satisfaction with the built environment structure and aesthetics was associated with higher parent satisfaction with health care services (r =.54, p <.01; r =.59, p <.01, respectively). Higher staff satisfaction with the built environment structure and aesthetics was associated with higher coworker relationship satisfaction (r =.53; p <.001; r =.51; p <.01, respectively). The implications of the findings for the architectural design and evaluation of pediatric health care facilities are discussed.

Feasibility of a Nonoperative Management Strategy for Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis in Children

“…The PedsQL™ Quality of Life Inventory: Child and Parent Report questionnaire were given to the subject and parent at the 30-day follow-up (12–17). In addition, the PedsQL™ Healthcare Satisfaction Generic Module: Parent Report was completed by the parent at 30 days (18). …”

Post-occupancy evaluation of healing gardens in a pediatric cancer center

“…Renewed interest in nature within the hospital environment has resulted in research documenting the benefits of nature for reducing stress, improving mood, and increasing healthcare satisfaction (Beauchemin and Hays, 1996;Cooper-Marcus and Barnes, 1999;Ulrich, 1991;Varni et al, 2004;Whitehouse et al, 2001). In fact, subjective domains of health outcomes (e.g., perceived stress, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), healthcare satisfaction, well-being) are becoming increasingly important in health and hospital culture, as the paradigm shifts from morbidity and mortality as primary outcomes of a hospital experience to a broader view that includes HRQOL and satisfaction.…”

Art in a Spanish children's hospital

“…A number of works of research (Fornara, 2006;Varni et al, 2004) stress the relationship between the perceived quality of the physical-spatial elements and the social and functional ones of the hospital: that is, the higher the degree of humanization in terms of the architectural design, the higher the perceived quality in the relational, organizational, and functional dimensions. Moreover, there is evidence of the positive impact of art programs and projects implemented in health-care environments (Staricoff, 2006;Stuckey & Nobel, 2010) that are coherent with the experience analyzed in this article.…”